Blog 13 INDONESIA: Missing Children Raise Tafficking Concerns

Concerns about human trafficking have come about in Indonesia due to the number of the number of cases of missing children recently. The chairman for The National Commission on Child Protection has stated that  approximately 182 children were reported missing in 2011 which is up from 111 in 2010. It is believed many more are missing. These figures are just of the ones reported missing. It is suspected that a human trafficking network is taking the children and using them for illegal adoptions, sexual exploitation, as well as, domestic and international child labor.There are provinces which border Malaysia and Batam, near Singapore. It is believed that children in this area are extremely vulnerable to human traffickers. Difficulty in gathering evidence along with a lack of funding, puts investigating cases of child trafficking low on the priority list of the police. Less than 1 percent of cases are ever brought to court. It is reported that most of the victims are girls under the age of 18 who come from poor families in villages. Like so many instances of human trafficking around the world, these girls are lured by the prospect of jobs or scholarships for school in the city. It has been estimated that as much as 30 percent of the girls involved in prostitution in Indonesia are under the age of 18.

Again, we see here another case of human traffickers taking advantage of those individuals who are poor and unable to fight back. In some of my other blogs, I have mentioned how human traffickers lure many of those living in poverty with the prospect of work or educational opportunities. These men , women, and children who fall victim to this deception, end up in forced labor or sexual exploitation. This is also an article that again mentions a lack of funding and resources to combat the problem of human trafficking. Through these 13 blogs concerning human trafficking around the world it has become apparent that the high profits of this atrocity make it a very difficult problem to combat. Corruption at the some of the highest levels in governments and law enforcement agencies around the world, is just a one of the many driving forces which fuels the continued growth of  human trafficking. Backing down in the face of adversity is not an option concerning this problem. More than ever, people need to come together to fight human trafficking. We can't stand by hoping someone else will do something. We all have a voice and we need to use our voices to advocate for those who have been silenced by the monsters who do not care about the rights and dignity of other human beings.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report/95250/INDONESIA-Missing-children-raise-trafficking-concerns